DTM – BMW is over the moon, Audi looks grim

Augusto Farfus had a perfect race at Hockenheim, starting from the front row. The Brazilian knew how to manage his new soft tires and pit at the right time to maintain the advantage and win at the end of this first event of the season. The success was all the more resounding for BMW as Dirk Werner came to offer the Bavarian firm a double after starting from the back of the grid. “It was a really nice day”, comments the winner. “The soft tires and DRS offered a lot of action. I was able to get a good start and I was very fast. What a start to the season! » The manufacturer, who made a superb return to the discipline by winning all the titles last year, does not hide his joy either. “It’s incredible, to finish first and second while (Dirk Werner) started from the back of the grid is just superb,” adds BMW sporting director Jens Marquardt. “There have been so many overtakes and position changes that there probably won't be any favorites in the next nine races. The races have really become more spicy. »

On the other hand, if Audi celebrated a magnificent hat-trick yesterday in WEC at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the Ingolstadt manufacturer is looking gloomy today even though it had a great opportunity to win with Timo Scheider starting from pole. The German lost his hopes of victory by preferring to stay on the track when the safety car entered the track following the start of a fire on the RS5 DTM by Adrien Tambay and ultimately only finished in sixth place. “Obviously, we are disappointed”, admits Dieter Gass who replaces Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich in the discipline. “After taking first and fifth place on the grid (Mattias Ekström retired), we hoped for more. On the other hand, we noted that we only had two cars in the top ten on the grid. We didn't make the right decision by leaving Timo on track while the safety car intervened. There was still a lot of action on the track today. »

Discover the report of the opening round of the DTM at Hockenheim produced by our special correspondent in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, exceptionally available from tomorrow in digital version on all platforms and from Tuesday on newsstands.